Hope Has a Place
by rachelAbendstern
Summary: Teaser: And then there was Max. Sweet, strong, stubborn Max. He had followed his sister’s path from Los Angeles to Seattle, had watched her grow into a beautiful, self confident woman. Zack-centric


**Title:** Hope Has a Place  
**Author:** rachelAbendstern (aka abendstern1601, amaranth)  
**Characters:** Zack, Max (unrequited M/Z)  
**Rating:** PG  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine, none of them.  
**Summary:** Zack is checking up on his favourite sister.  
**Spoilers:** Season 1, set somewhere between Blah Blah Woof Woof and The Kids are aiight.  
**Author's note: **So, Shay (TheWickedQuill) told me in a mail that she really would like someone to write some M/Z for her birthday. I kind of challenged her, saying if she writes me some Z/A or W/A, I'll see what I can do about M/Z. I think she's been ripped off on this deal, since all I could come up with is this and she wrote the best Z/A smut eva for me! But just for the record, I told her I would be happy with a drabble and the NC17 wasn't actually a requirement XP

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~Hope Has a Place~

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Once again, for the third time in the last six months, Zack was back in Seattle. Despite his better judgment he was drawn to this city. Drawn to _her_.

He had kept an eye on all of his siblings, hard as it had been to find them after he had told them to go to ground that fateful night ten years ago.

Some of them managed just fine on their own. As it was, Tinga had even dared to start a family of her own, and for all that Zack believed it to be a mistake, believed what he had told Max, that forming any kind of attachments was a weakness, despite never admitting it out loud he wished her all the happiness she could find in this bond to a human.

Others had Zack worried. Ben, for example. His brother was losing himself, was losing his grip on sanity, slowly but surely, and Zack didn't know what to do about it, how to help him.

And then there was Max. Sweet, strong, stubborn Max. He had followed his sister's path from Los Angeles to Seattle, had watched her grow into a beautiful, self confident woman. They were all designed to be beautiful but there was something about Max that called to him like no one and nothing else did.

He had watched over her from afar for years, until (in an act of impulse that he wasn't usually prone to) he had tried to insinuate himself into her everyday life. The little spitfire had given him a hard time before she finally recognized him for who he was, but even that had been more amusing and endearing than anything.

So much for not forming attachments. He was breaking his own rules. Even Max had called him on to it that one time when he had almost convinced her to leave this city behind.

So once again he was watching over her from afar. Standing on top of the building across Fogle Towers he watched her with that pet human of hers. Zack didn't know what she saw in the guy. He endangered himself and those around him with his Samaritan act, he was weak even for a human, couldn't use his own legs and still she chose him over Zack.

At the very least, and that was the only reason Zack didn't put his Manticore training to good use and eliminate this threat to his sister's safety (like he had done with that private investigator, Vogelsang), Logan Cale cared about Max as much as Max cared about Cale. Zack might lack experience in human emotions but even he recognized love when it hit him across the head with a sledgehammer. Or rather his sister's knee in his abdomen when she had left him behind once again.

This was madness and Zack knew it. He couldn't keep doing this, he was putting the both of them in jeopardy by staying here, by coming back over and over again. But he couldn't stay away. Not while there was still a chance to win her over, prove himself to her, prove to her that he was a better choice than that... _human_.

If she only asked, he would be hers. If she only asked, he would give her everything he had, would gladly lay down his life for her. It was disconcerting to feel like that, so strongly, defying every self preservation instinct beaten into him, but he couldn't shake those feelings. More than that, however, was it frustrating that Max didn't seem to see him. Not the way he wanted her to see him.

Lost in his thoughts as he was it had escaped Zack that Max was no longer in his sights. Cursing himself for his inattentiveness, his eyes searched Cale's apartment, what he could see from up here, but Max was nowhere to be found.

He was debating whether or not to leave and pick up her trail at Jam Pony the next day when suddenly the choice was taken out of his hands.

"What are you doing, Zack?"

Max stood behind him, her face twisted up as if she couldn't decide whether she was happy to see him or irate at him for spying on her. Zack took it as a good sign that there was genuine happiness thrown in with the aggravation.

For a moment Zack debated coming up with a story that would explain his presence, but that would just be an insult to her intelligence.

"I told you I'm trying to keep you safe."

Max scoffed and the part of him that wasn't annoyed at her carelessness and her fixation on that human even found her anger adorable. And kind of hot, truth be told.

"By spying on me in Logan's apartment?" Shaking her head in incredulity, she went on, "You know, you also basically told me you'd wash your hands clean off me when I refused to leave Seattle the first time you asked."

And still he'd come back when she had been in danger because of something that Zack himself had done. He didn't mention that. He didn't need to, since the sudden softening of her features told him that she remembered too.

"I told you as well that I keep tabs on _all_ of you." It was the truth. It wasn't all of the truth, but she probably wouldn't appreciate the rest of it as hung up as she was on Logan Cale.

"Yeah, and in the same breath you refused to tell me where I could find them." The look in her eyes was hurt now, not anger, and it cut into his defenses like the blade of a knife into his skin. She had worn the same look back then only it hadn't seemed as hard to refuse her.

Still...

"It's safer. For them and for you it's safer."

Sighing, Max's shoulders slumped down and she leaned against an exhaust vent behind her. The moonlight reflected off the cold silver painted her face pale and drawn.

"I know."

The admission came unexpected. Zack had expected her to fight him again, questioning his methods, his lonely wolf way of life. All she did was cross her arms protectively over her chest, looking out over the city behind Zack's shoulders.

"I just miss them."

It was a foolish thing to let his emotions rule his moves. Zack knew that. But he couldn't help raising a hand, stroking back dark strands of hair and caressing Max's soft cheek in the process.

"Me too."

He let his hand fall down, embarrassed and upset for letting his guard down. It seemed to happen a lot around this particular sibling of his .

Max looked up at him, surprise in her eyes, sudden mischief blooming in a slow, genuine smile.

"Who would have thought? The great Zack, 'it's all phony sentimentality,' do-it-all-by-himself Zack admitting to missing his brothers and sisters?"

He felt a blush heating his cheeks, but he didn't back down. Instead, he threw her words back at her as she had done to him at one time. "Call it a moment of weakness."

Huffing a small laugh in acknowledgment, Max smiled at him for a moment. It was good to see her smile. It was more than good to know he had been the one to put that smile on her beautiful face. Then, she worried her lip and cocked her head to the side, sizing him up.

"You're not as closed off as you want to make yourself believe, Zack. And that's a good thing!"

He could deny it. He _should_ deny it but where was the point? She knew better by now. Instead, he scowled in distaste at the truth of her words and joined her in her perch against the vent. The silence between them was deep but comfortable. Zack had never been one for words anyway, and, apart from the fact that it was _her_, it was nice to have company, to keep the loneliness he denied feeling at bay for just a few minutes.

All too soon, however, Max announced, "I really should go. Logan is waiting for me."

Just like that, his good mood vanished, but Zack just grunted his acknowledgment and didn't offer his opinion on Max's human toy again. She already knew and it hadn't changed anything.

"Are you staying?"

She looked at him with those big, sad, vulnerable eyes and Zack wanted to say yes, wanted to stay so bad it took his breath away for a moment. Wanted to take the chance to show her that Logan Cale wasn't good for her, wasn't what she needed or should want, that Zack was better than _him_. Sanity won over impulse this time, though, and he said, "You know I can't."

It seemed like an eternity passed when she held his gaze. It seemed like the moment was over all too soon when she looked away.

Max surprised him again before she left. Even though Zack saw her moving, he couldn't have reacted if his life depended on it.

Raising her hands to his face, she pulled him down and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. Then she stepped back and headed for the door to the staircase, stopping once more to take a last look at him before she left.

Zack just stood there for a moment, the places where her hands and lips had touched him burning as if he had been branded. Then, ruefully smiling, he, too, headed for the door.

It wasn't what he wanted. It wasn't enough by a long shot. But it would have to do for now.

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~The End~


End file.
